Boat wiring

[Olivia Frances]

I’m re wiring my boat over the winter.
mom considering using flexible conduit to run the wiring through and terminating in boxes using glands . Has anyone ever used conduit and boxes on a boat? Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[lustyd]

I use split conduit to support cables and bunch them together on mine, but no boxes

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08KP7VLTJ

 

[westernman]

What ever you do, make sure you label everything (including unconnected spares) and make a decent diagram on you computer of what goes where.
You will be very pleased you did in a couple of years time.

 

[KompetentKrew]

I'm trying to add an additional wire down a flexible conduit at the moment.

I managed to get a very flexible puller from the local electrical factors (4mm nylon, similar to this) and, with a bit of force in a couple of places, managed to push it 1.2m down the conduit. Then it stops dead at a chicane, where the conduit goes through 2 bends, each approaching 90°. It seems to me that round conduit must narrow its diameter where it is bent.

In general I would prefer:

1. Long straight runs of cable.
2. This kind of hard plastic trunking instead of flexible conduit
3. Mousing lines left in place so I can easily pull additional cables through if I wish to add them.

I am open to the views of those with more experience, however.

 

[Olivia Frances]

I'm trying to add an additional wire down a flexible conduit at the moment.

I managed to get a very flexible puller from the local electrical factors (4mm nylon, similar to this) and, with a bit of force in a couple of places, managed to push it 1.2m down the conduit. Then it stops dead at a chicane, where the conduit goes through 2 bends, each approaching 90°. It seems to me that round conduit must narrow its diameter where it is bent.

In general I would prefer:

1. Long straight runs of cable.
2. This kind of hard plastic trunking instead of flexible conduit
3. Mousing lines left in place so I can easily pull additional cables through if I wish to add them.

I am open to the views of those with more experience, however.

I rewired a RIB , the previous owners had left a cord that made the job much easier… I’m not sure what I was pulling through but I had to run hydraulic lines as well as cable and vhf arial co ax… so I will do the same leave a cord for future use.

 

[Olivia Frances]

What ever you do, make sure you label everything (including unconnected spares) and make a decent diagram on you computer of what goes where.
You will be very pleased you did in a couple of years time.

Thank you, I will label everything up… nothing worse than a mass of cables that make no sense, at present the wiring is a nightmare… it’s so complex, so I’m going to make it a simple as I can…

 

[Olivia Frances]

I use split conduit to support cables and bunch them together on mine, but no boxes

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08KP7VLTJ

Thanks, I’m trying to make it waterproof… by using conduit and glands , using split conduit , would be much easier but defeat my idea

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

I'm not sure it's really worth trying to waterproof it all. By all means use conduit to keep it tidy, stop stuff snagging on it and doing damage, but the insulation will do a good enough job of keeping water out. Tinned conductor will give you more years than raw copper, but atmospheric moisture eventually gets in between the individual conductors and wicks through and you're left with blackened copper. Putting it through conduits won't help because it gets in through the ends where the wire is exposed. Aim to spend the extra time on using solder and adhesive heat shrink on the terminations to try and stop anything getting in there. (Use proper terminals on everything - bare wire into screw clamps are best avoided.

 

[KompetentKrew]

I'm not sure it's really worth trying to waterproof it all. By all means use conduit to keep it tidy, stop stuff snagging on it and doing damage, but the insulation will do a good enough job of keeping water out. Tinned conductor will give you more years than raw copper, but atmospheric moisture eventually gets in between the individual conductors and wicks through and you're left with blackened copper. Putting it through conduits won't help because it gets in through the ends where the wire is exposed. Aim to spend the extra time on using solder and adhesive heat shrink on the terminations to try and stop anything getting in there. (Use proper terminals on everything - bare wire into screw clamps are best avoided.

+1

IMO if you try to use conduit as "waterproofing" then it will only serve to trap the water in there when it does inevitably get in.

 

[[2574]]

Tinned cable….

 

[steve yates]

I'm trying to add an additional wire down a flexible conduit at the moment.

I managed to get a very flexible puller from the local electrical factors (4mm nylon, similar to this) and, with a bit of force in a couple of places, managed to push it 1.2m down the conduit. Then it stops dead at a chicane, where the conduit goes through 2 bends, each approaching 90°. It seems to me that round conduit must narrow its diameter where it is bent.

In general I would prefer:

1. Long straight runs of cable.
2. This kind of hard plastic trunking instead of flexible conduit
3. Mousing lines left in place so I can easily pull additional cables through if I wish to add them.

I am open to the views of those with more experience, however.

Got very little experience, but isnt the whole point of the solid conduit in your link that you can just unclip the top and have access to everything, and be able to just work any new cable in easily because of that?

Its certainly the reason I bought some for rewiring my small boat.

 

[KompetentKrew]

Got very little experience, but isnt the whole point of the solid conduit in your link that you can just unclip the top and have access to everything, and be able to just work any new cable in easily because of that?

Its certainly the reason I bought some for rewiring my small boat.

Well, yes, exactly.

I'm assuming that, when refitting old boats, not all 3 of my preferences can be met all at once, though. So straight runs of cable and a mousing line left, where the hard trunking is not available.

 

[Daverw]

Flexible conduit a nightmare trying to pull or push cables through, I find it much easier to have smooth wall and use bender to shape run.

 

[Stemar]

As mentioned, label everything, each wire at both ends, and use a mix of colours and stripes on the wire if you can. A Dymo is a good investment for that job.

I made up a beautiful switch/fuse panel, but didn't label anything, and used the reel of nice blue wire that had been lurking in a cupboard for everything. I was lucky, I never had any trouble, but I rather think that if the new owner does, the air will be turning the same colour as the wire.

 

[coopec]

I bought these plastic clip-on numbers.
One day when I get a chance I will identify the cables and tag them.

Plastic Cable Marker label EC-1 Wire marker Number 0 to 9 Insulation Electrical | eBay

 

[lustyd]

Top tip, don’t try to make the numbers sequential, just make them unique. Otherwise you use up the 1s very quickly!

 

[KompetentKrew]

A friend I met at Gosport boatyard was impressed by the manuals that came with my boat - ring-binders containing the instructions which came with everything from the radio and radar to nav lights, water pumps and the calorifier. "I wish my boat came with all that," he said.

I realised only recently that a small transparent sheet bundled with the Nanni documents is a microfiche of spare part diagrams, and I have the original Van De Stadt blueprints as supplied to the jachtwerf that built the boat. All the electrical cabling is numbered in two- and there-digit codes in little markers slipped over the wires, but unfortunately the key which explains the purpose of each wire was written in dutch by a spider.

 

[jamie N]

I am/was an ROV professional, and I've built and wired up many underwater vehicles, which always have fairly complicated and intricate wiring looms that are hidden through penetrators into oil filled boxes and 'bottles', and do have to be quite precisely fitted. Each one of these had each connector marked, and logged onto a schematic so that any semi competent 'Sub-Eng' wouldn't have a crisis in decyphering my wiring.
I've just rewired much of my Folkboat's wiring, (it's not complicated) and I've not made a single note or marked one cable, which is absolutely pathetic, and I blame this thread for that, because I'd have quite happily simply ignored it, but now, seeing others address the issues in a far more professional manner than me, has shamed me into following suit!

 

[LittleSister]

I am/was an ROV professional, and I've built and wired up many underwater vehicles, which always have fairly complicated and intricate wiring looms that are hidden through penetrators into oil filled boxes and 'bottles', and do have to be quite precisely fitted. Each one of these had each connector marked, and logged onto a schematic so that any semi competent 'Sub-Eng' wouldn't have a crisis in decyphering my wiring.
I've just rewired much of my Folkboat's wiring, (it's not complicated) and I've not made a single note or marked one cable, which is absolutely pathetic, and I blame this thread for that, because I'd have quite happily simply ignored it, but now, seeing others address the issues in a far more professional manner than me, has shamed me into following suit!

'The cobbler's wife's always worst shod', they say!

 

[De.windhoos]

A friend I met at Gosport boatyard was impressed by the manuals that came with my boat - ring-binders containing the instructions which came with everything from the radio and radar to nav lights, water pumps and the calorifier. "I wish my boat came with all that," he said.

I realised only recently that a small transparent sheet bundled with the Nanni documents is a microfiche of spare part numbers, and I have the original Van De Stadt blueprints as supplied to the jachtwerf that built the boat. All the electrical cabling is numbered in two- and there-digit codes in little markers slipped over the wires, but unfortunately the key which explains the purpose of each wire was written in dutch by a spider.

I'm Dutch, so if you need help translating just let me know.